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Super Bowl Sunday: Brain damage in progress

By Mychal Denzel Smith

Sun., Feb. 3, 2013

Today, citizens of the United States will indulge in America’s most cherished pastime: watching large men give each other life-threatening concussions. For about 20 weeks, millions sit riveted as players in the National Football League collide into one another at breakneck speeds, delivering bone-crushing hits that thrill and excite, and it all concludes on our favourite holiday, Super Bowl Sunday. Buckets of chicken and kegs of beer will be consumed in raucous atmospheres at homes and bars across the land, as we all watch the next generation of Alzheimer’s patients and suicide victims ride on to national glory.

It sounds grim when put that way, but that’s exactly what is happening. Over the past few years, the dangers of the sport have come under more scrutiny, as more than 3,800 former players have sued the NFL over the issue of head injuries. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, more commonly referred to by its initials CTE, has become a huge concern for retired football players, as a number of high profile suicides have put the debilitating brain disease on their radar, including that of former star linebacker Junior Seau.

Junior Seau, the one-time fierce linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, shot himself in the chest on May 2, 2012. He was 43. (Sept. 15, 2002) (Lenny Ignelzi / AP)

Only 43 years old, Seau was found dead last year of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Like others before him, he chose to preserve his brain so that it could be studied after his death. During his playing career, Seau was never sidelined due to concussions, but it has been established that he did develop CTE, likely because of repeated hits to the head during his 20-year career. His family has filed a lawsuit, according to The Associated Press, accusing the NFL of “deliberately ignoring and concealing evidence of the risks associated with traumatic brain injuries.”

My guess is more than the threat of CTE. We talk about the culture of violent machismo as a driving motivator behind their choice to play, but it’s even more basic than that. It’s the economy, stupid. The reason there are more than a million American boys, of all different ages, playing this violent game is that there are millions of dollars on the table, in guaranteed contracts and endorsement deals, available to those who prove themselves capable of strapping on the pads to play America’s favourite sport at the highest level. This is the lottery, and who is more willing to play than those who are most economically disadvantaged?

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It’s no accident that throughout the year the most celebrated players talk about their humble beginnings, coming from poor and working-class families. It’s also no coincidence that so many of them are African-American: Sixty-seven per cent of NFL players are African-American. Why? Because this is a hustle, and so long as African-Americans are disproportionately represented among the poor, they’ll also be disproportionately represented in the NFL.

As much as players, particularly the black ones, are chastised in the media for their lavish lifestyles, an NFL contract is the economic hope of many poor black youths and their families. There may only be a few more than 1,700 African-American men with deals, but that is still 1,700 six-, seven- and eight-figure deals that families and friends of the players are relying on for their economic security. For all the expensive cars and frivolous clubbing, these guys are also propping up immediate and extended family on their salaries. As the cheques get bigger, it’s not surprising that the number of kids playing at earlier and earlier ages increases. For too many, this is their answer to debilitating poverty.

So what’s a little permanent brain damage?

Americans can wait for the cultural shift to take place, when football no longer figures so prominently because soccer and basketball have overtaken their imaginations, and then they no longer have to concern themselves with this messy business of brain injuries. Or they could improve the economic conditions of the poor and working class, especially those of colour, and no longer render them dependent on the idea of huge paydays from a major breadwinner putting his future health at risk. Until then, go Ravens, I guess.

Mychal Denzel Smith is a freelance writer and social commentator. His work has appeared in various publications, including the Guardian, Ebony and the Huffington Post.

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